


Polished

by Lexalicious70



Category: Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-06
Updated: 2015-07-06
Packaged: 2018-04-07 21:40:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4278891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lexalicious70/pseuds/Lexalicious70
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Madison Sinclair flexes her claws, Dick is the target, but Cassidy has other plans for her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Polished

Polished 

By Neptunes_Net (AKA Lexalicious70) 

 

“Please, Beav? Come on!” 

“I said no, Dick, and I fucking mean it!” 

“Come on . . . Madison is totally into it, and I need to learn how!” 

The two brothers, different in every way right down to the hue of their blue eyes—a sunlit blue in contrast to a darker cobalt, stood in the doorway of the pool house in the silence of a Neptune Sunday afternoon. Beyond them, the pool gleamed in the July sunlight, reflecting sunlight and making the blue-and-white tiled bottom all but invisible. Cassidy crossed his arms over his skinny chest as if in defense as Dick’s tall, broad form filled the doorway. There was no surety in Dick’s stance like usual, however, and he offered Cassidy a smile that Cassidy had seen him use on Logan when he wanted something. 

“Please, Cassidy? No one’s around, and I totally swear I won’t tell anyone! I know I’ve said that before, but I really mean it this time! I’ll even give you my allowance for the week!”   
Cassidy sighed at the use of his real name, only used when Dick thought he was being nice, and rolled his eyes so he wouldn’t have to look at his brother’s pleading expression or his slightly pouty lower lip. 

“Two weeks.” Cassidy said at last, looking back at Dick with narrowed eyes. “And if you say one word about it to anyone, I’ll go on my Facebook and tell everyone about that day we went to Taco Time and you got the shits on the beach afterward and had to wear the bottom of mom’s old bathing suit home!” 

Dick’s lips pursed and Cassidy could tell he was struggling not to point out that his kid brother only had about a dozen Facebook friends where he had hundreds, but doing so wouldn’t help his cause much. Finally, he nodded. 

“Deal. Come on.” He turned away and walked onto the pool deck, his flip flops making sharp snip-snap sounds as he went over to the corner of the spacious desk where his father had set up an area shaded with a large white canopy. Matching wooden chaise lounges padded with soft linen cushions sat under the generous shade, and Cassidy sat down before kicking off his own sandals. Dick grabbed a pillow off the glider and used it to cushion his knees before reaching into his pocket to withdraw a bottle of pink nail polish and a blue foam toe separator he’d swiped from Madison’s dresser the last time he’d been to her house. Cassidy watched him in the way a gazelle that wasn’t sure if the lion resting under a nearby tree was going to pounce or not might. 

“Just watch what you’re doing and—and don’t handle my feet too much. I’m ticklish.” 

“You said you’d do it, so are you going to sit still or not?” Dick took a bottle of nail polish remover from his other pocket and set it aside. He flicked on his phone and looked at a few of the pictures he’d saved before carefully fitting the separator between the toes of Cassidy’s left foot. Cassidy tried not to twitch away as the thing spread his toes. He rested his head against the chaise cushion and tried to relax as Dick opened the bottle of polish. 

“All this just for Madison . . . she treats you like creamed crap, Dick. Why are you even trying to impress her?” 

Dick lifted a broad, bare shoulder as he frowned at the smell of the polish. “Whatever keeps me out of the friend zone, Beav. She likes this Cleopatra routine where I do stuff for her, and I think she’ll think this is really hot.” 

“So it’s just so she’ll sleep with you?” 

“Trust me, dude, when you start doing it, you’ll start making sacrifices so you can keep on doing it. Look at Logan . . . Veronica has his balls zipped in up in her worn yet fashionable hobo bag, and he doesn’t hang out with us too much because of it.” Dick slopped polish onto Cassidy’s big toenail and it smeared in clumps across the surface. “Shit!” 

“Don’t use so much, dipwad!” Cassidy scolded, sitting up a little. Dick poured some of the remover onto a tissue and removed the polish. 

“It’s called practice!” Dick cleaned the little brush off on the side of the bottle. “Goddamn it, why can’t they make this shit easier to use?” 

Cassidy watched his brother, kneeling there in the shade, his hair like a halo even without the benefit of sunlight, bleached a bright gold from hours of surfing. Athletics and their father’s genes had given him the benefit of being everything a Southern California boy should be—at least on the outside. In contrast, Cassidy had inherited his mother’s heart condition and her petite size, which had kept him out of almost every sport his father had wanted him to excel in. 

There had been little league, of course, but his coach, Woody Goodman, had been more interested in his weakness than his strengths. He had been interested in control, the same kind of control Madison Sinclair was trying to get over Dick, and this thought made Cassidy’s stomach turn with anger and memory. 

“Dick, you shouldn’t—” He began to say, sitting up, and Dick glanced up. 

“Sit still, will you? I did three, I’m on a roll here!” 

“I am. It’s just . . . you shouldn’t let Madison have control over you like this! That little queen and servant game she likes to play? She’s not getting off on it because of the reason you think! She wants to humiliate you, man! And once you go there and do this, do you seriously think she’s not going to get on the phone with all her little rich bitch friends and laugh at you over it?” 

Dick glanced up, color rising in his cheeks. 

“Look, you don’t know anything about chicks! You’ve never even been on a date, so . . . so just shut up about Madison, will you?” 

“I don’t have to go out on a date to see how she treats you, Dick! Is being someone’s toy really worth getting laid?” Cassidy’s voice rose. “You’re better than that, no matter what she tells you!” 

“Look Beav.” Dick set the polish down. “You’re not old enough yet to see how things are in this city. Me and Madison—it’s like—it’s what’s expected, you know? The rich guy, the snooty rich gal who plays the hard-to-get bitch before she gives it up to the rich guy . . . and the more we play our roles, the less I have to worry. Logan’s breaking the rules right now by going out with Veronica and he’s fucking paying for it. You’ve seen it yourself.” 

“But he’s in control of what’s happening, Dick! Even if he has to fight to be where he is with Veronica, it’s better than kneeling at some ice queen’s feet just to have her laugh at you!” Cassidy peppered Dick with his words and Dick got to his feet, his blue eyes hooded. 

“I think I’ve had enough practice. I’m going over there to see her.” Dick collected his polish and yanked the separator from Cassidy’s foot, who yelped in surprise. 

“Dick don’t! Come on . . . stay here with me. We can play Halo—I’ll even let you pick your squad first!” 

“Just don’t forget your promise.” Dick backed up, his color high with the truth his brother had laid on him. Cassidy opened his mouth to say more, but then Dick was already heading toward the house to change. Cassidy sighed and looked down at the painted nails of his left foot. With the polish remover gone, there wasn’t much he could do to get rid of it, so he slipped on his sandals and went into the pool house to nap away the rest of the hot afternoon. 

Dick didn’t return to the house until well after nightfall, and when his broad frame filled Cassidy’s bedroom door, Cassidy glanced up from the gaming manual he’d been reading.   
“How’d it go?” He asked, and Dick took this as an invitation to step inside. When he didn’t reply, Cassidy frowned. “Dick?” 

“Everything was cool . . . she asked if I’d wear this little slave outfit while I did her nails, so I put it on and got all my stuff out.” Dick paused, and that’s when Cassidy realized his brother’s shirt was rumpled and on inside out. “And when I crouched down to start painting, about ten of her friends came out of the walk-in and starting snapping pictures of me. Fucking paparazzi nightmare.” Dick paused. “They were all laughing, especially Madison.” 

“Jeez, Dick.” Cassidy shifted over on his bed and Dick took the invitation as he sat next to his brother. 

“Grabbed my clothes and got out of there. Got dressed in the car.” He pushed his hair back. “Those photos are gonna be all over Facebook and shit by morning.” 

Cassidy bit his lower lip in thought and then he grinned. 

“Do you still have the nail polish and everything, Dick?” 

“Yeah, I had an extra bottle in my pocket in case I dropped or spilled the first one. So?” 

“So give them to me.” 

“What the fuck for, Beaver?” 

“Trust me.” Cassidy smiled. “I have an idea that’s going to keep those pictures off Madison’s social accounts for keeps.” 

 

_An hour later_

“What the hell!” 

Madison Sinclair gaped at her tablet screen in disbelief. The photo that had popped up just a moment ago featured what was unmistakably her bedroom and the ornate brass footboard of her bed. The photo featured two very large feet, the nails painted bright pink, her trademark blue foam separator parked neatly between the large toes, which were dusted with hair. The tip of the big toe was crowned with a massive wart. The caption, which looked as it had been posted from her Facebook account, read, 

_“Sometimes a girl just has to kick back and try a new color while she’s catching up with Girl Code, yo!”_

“No . . . no!” Madison gasped, grabbing her laptop and brought up Facebook, but her account was signed out and she slammed the keyboard in frustration as it refused to let her log back in. “Goddamn it!” 

Her phone chimed and she scooped it up from her duvet to read the new text, which was from Dick’s nerdy kid brother, Cassidy. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she read it. 

_Tell your friends if they post the pictures they took of Dick tonight, then the picture I just sent you will post to every single one of your social accounts and get emailed to every single person at Neptune High. I suggest you start dialing._

“Shit . . . oh shit!” Madison typed out a response, her hands shaking. 

_You little shitbag! You wouldn’t dare!_

A moment later, the reply. 

_I’ve already demonstrated that I can hack into your Facebook. I can get into your Instagram and Twitter just as easily. I’ve already locked you out . . . so again, I suggest you start dialing, Madison. If any of those photos hit the Internet, you’ll be known as Bigfoot Sinclair the rest of your high school days._

Madison felt a rush of heat to her cheeks and her fingers tightened around the phone until the pink case started to bend inward. 

_You little asshole!_

_Are you dialing?_

“Bastard!” She hissed like a scalded cat and then squeezed her eyes shut. 

_Yes, fine!_

She hit send and then called up her contact list, praying that her stupid friends had listened when she’d told them not to post anything until she’d told them to, as she knew those photos would have kept Dick under her thumb and at her whim, personally and financially, for at least the rest of the school year. 

“None of you dumb bitches better have jumped the gun, or you’re going down with me!” Madison growled as she flopped back on the bed and caught a reflection of her furious expression in the reflection of her tablet, the picture still visible. She threw it across the room with a cheated shriek, where it hit the wall, cracked, and went dark.   
**********************************************************************************  
“So, you seriously think she’ll get her friends to cave?” Dick asked Cassidy as they sat on the bed together. Cassidy grinned and nodded. 

“That picture is social suicide and she knows it. Not even the great Madison Sinclair can pass something like this off as a joke.” 

“Especially in Neptune.” Dick nodded and looked down at his toes, the nails of which were painted bright pink. He wriggled them and cocked his head. “Dude, the photoshopped wart was a stroke of genius.” 

“Thanks man.” Cassidy reached for the nail polish remover, but Dick waved him off.

“Shit, leave it.” He said, and then broke into mildly puzzled laughter as Cassidy stuck the foam separator between the toes of his right foot and opened the bottle of nail polish again.

“Dude, what the fuck?” 

“Call it solidarity.” Cassidy shrugged as he added a coat of polish to each nail until his right foot matched his left, and then he tugged the separator out and tossed it into the trash. Dick grinned. 

“Solidarity, huh?” 

“Yeah.” Cassidy turned on the PS3 and slid their Halo disc into the player before handing Dick one of the controllers. The brothers sat on the bed, side by side, their shoulders and painted pink big toes almost touching, as they began to play.   
The demands of Neptune and everything they needed to be on the outside could wait—at least until the morning. 

Fin


End file.
